Despite the fact that center court Philippe-Chatrier looked desolate, it was a loud public support for Nadal when he pushed his racket against Gerasimovs when they thanked for the match in front of the net.
Gerasimov broke at the beginning of the third set and went to 2-0 but Nadal broke back to 2-2 and after that game the Belarusian took a medical timeout to get a sprained foot taped.
During the break, Gerasimov put on a mouth guard.
When it was time to play again, Nadal broke the deadlock to 3-2.
After that, Gerasimov was a beaten man and could not keep up the fine game he had until the foot injury.
There were some question marks for Nadal, who abstained from the US Open due to the corona pandemic, after losing already in the quarterfinals in Rome before the French Open.